What is it?
Labbuddy is an online tool that can be used to support practicals in terms of preparation, implementation and reporting. Its creators base their work on a number of educational theories. The environment is tailored to each practical based on input from lecturers and manuals of the practical course.
Various practicals within several programmes at the Faculty of Science have been using this tool for some time, and it has certainly been helpful to have a virtual tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to positive experiences, including students arriving better prepared for the practical and, in some cases, savings in terms of days in the lab and/or the use of consumables, the number of courses using Labbuddy has grown. It can now be used for both practicals with a laboratory component and computer practicals. See below for some experiences within the VU.
What's new?
- Since this academic year (2025-2026), a central contract has been concluded for all courses that use Labbuddy.
- Licence fees (the annual costs per student account) are now covered by the Faculty of Science, provided that the course is within the Faculty of Science.
- For the development of the Labbuddy component in a practical that does not yet use it, subsidies may be available to support the development costs (see below).
- Since the conclusion of this contract, labbuddy.beta@vu.nl has been the point of contact for matters such as support and possible new initiatives or even the revision of existing courses.
- Contact with the company itself is arranged by the Faculty of Science Labbuddy team.
Subsidy round
The first faculty subsidy round will take place this spring. Interested parties can contact labbuddy.beta@vu.nl to explore the possibilities. Based on the quotation, a decision will be made as to whether the development costs can be covered in full or almost in full. The development costs of previous practicals that have run through this process are used as a guideline.
If you are interested, please send the following to labbuddy.beta@vu.nl before April 22:
- The practical course in question, including course code, programme and period.
- The contact persons.
- Why it is expected that Labbuddy should be used in this practical.
Proposals will be processed as soon as possible after receipt.
Experiences at VU University Amsterdam
Students enrolled in the Pharmaceutical Sciences programme conduct a virtual experiment in LabBuddy as part of their synthesis practical. The original synthesis experiment was part of a PhD research project and took a day of laboratory time to complete. However, due to the sharp increase in student numbers, it was no longer possible to conduct this experiment in the physical practical. The students now design the experiment themselves and are supported by automated feedback that guides them step by step. The automation ensures that each student receives feedback that matches their individual choices in the design. The approach encourages an investigative attitude and makes it possible to provide insight into the experimental process in an efficient manner. By going through the experiment virtually, students become familiar with the underlying concepts and techniques, which means that the learning objective of the practical remains intact despite the (partial) loss of the physical implementation in the lab.
In the Molecular Toxicology practical (from the same programme), students use LabBuddy to design their own experimental setup in order to be optimally prepared to carry out the experiments in the laboratory. Here too, students carry out part of the experimental work virtually, including an extensive purification of an enzyme. Students receive automated, individually tailored feedback on their design choices. Once the design is complete, students are given the actual fractions from the enzyme purification to determine the enzyme activity themselves in the laboratory. This allows students to link the process they have designed to real laboratory results. In a later phase, students use the purified enzyme to carry out further enzymatic reactions. The combination of digital design and physical experimentation strengthens their understanding of the entire experimental procedure. This approach also results in considerable savings in terms of time and resources in the laboratory.
Its use in courses from other programmes in the faculty even resulted in an educational VU publication about the effect on students of the use of Labbuddy in practicals: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00875
Questions?
Please direct any questions to: labbuddy.beta@vu.nl . We will respond to your questions as soon as possible.